1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat harness formed by a flat cable (FC), a flexible flat cable (FFC), or the like, that connects electrical components (auxiliary machineries) mounted on a vehicle, for example, and in particular relates to a flat harness and a manufacturing method for the same that minimizes the materials and the number of manufacturing steps for the flat harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, wire harnesses have generally been used to connect electronic components (auxiliary machineries) of a vehicle or the like. The wire harness bundles electrical wires that connect auxiliary machineries into a harness configuration, and normally crimp-style terminals are installed on the end of each of the electrical wires that form the harness. The crimp-style terminals are built into the connector that is connected to the connectors provided on each of the auxiliary machineries. In addition to wire harnesses, flat harnesses in which the electrical wires can be arrayed into a flat configuration and arrange a plurality of wirings at regular intervals are frequently used.
However, as described above, because a flat harness has a structure in which a plurality of wirings are arrayed in parallel, the width of the harness becomes wider as the number of wires increases, and thus there are cases in which wiring installation at a narrow site becomes difficult.
Thus, the present applicants proposed a wiring method for a flat harness that can form an arbitrary number of circuit wires by cutting and eliminating a part of the wiring of the flat harness and forming a joint part made of an electrically conducting material, and can realize a decrease in the number of electrodes of the connector of the terminal part along with space-saving and a simplification of the structure of the connector by minimizing unnecessary wiring (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, No. Hei 10-136530).
However, in this wiring method, a number of operational steps are necessary to form the joint part because an arbitrary circuit must be formed after forming the joint part.
The present invention is performed to provide a flat harness and a manufacturing method for the same that further advances the object of realizing space saving and a simplification of structure by minimizing unnecessary wiring that has been proposed by the present applicants as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flat harness and manufacturing method for the same which can minimize materials and manufacturing steps for the flat harness.